Oscilloscopes capable of acquiring long record length acquisitions (i.e., typically from 8 Mbits to 64 Mbits) are known in the art. Unfortunately, the desirable long record length feature is also the source of a problem. Heretofore, there was no easy way to search through such a long record to locate an anomaly that may be present at some point in the acquired signal. For example, a visual search of a 32 Mbit record displayed at a rate of 500 points per second would take 17 hours. One doubts the ability of even the most patient of oscilloscope operators to maintain his attention for so long a time.
Some modern oscilloscopes are equipped with a printer, contained with its cabinet, for printing oscilloscope traces and data on a roll of paper. One might think that the solution to the above-described problem would be to merely print the long record length waveform out and then examine the paper trace. Unfortunately, calculations reveal that in order to print out even an 8 Mbit record would require a paper printout on the order of several miles long.